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Celeriac has a wonderful ability to soak up flavours, whilst also bringing its own subtle, nutty fragrance to proceedings. You can use a peeler to remove the skin but I find it easier to use a sharp knife instead as the root end can be a little gnarled, tangled and hard to navigate. A little wastage is acceptable for a clean result.

Method

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water. Peel the onion, garlic and ginger. Grate them all on a fine grater, or pulse them in a food processor with a splash of water if you have one. Alternatively you could just chop them all very finely.

Wash and peel the celeriac (see cook’s notes). Cut into 2cm cubes. Wash the chard and strip the leaves away from the stalks. Finely dice the stalks and finely shred the leaves. Roughly chop the tomatoes.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan. Add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Fry briefly until the mustard seeds start to pop. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Mix and cook gently for 3 minutes. Tip in the curry powder, turmeric, tomato, celeriac and diced chard stalks. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the coconut milk. Season well with salt and pepper. Stir well and simmer for 20 minutes.

While it cooks take the time to deseed and finely slice the chilli. While the celeriac cooks, bash the cardamom pods once or twice with the butt of your knife or a rolling pin.

Tip the rice into the pan of boiling water along with the cardamom pods. Stir once and lower to the gentlest of simmers. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes. Taste the curry; if you would like it a bit hotter add some of the sliced chilli. If unsure at this stage you can garnish with raw chilli at the end to add more heat.

When the celeriac is just tender, add the chard leaves and ground almonds. Simmer for a further 8 minutes until everything is tender and the liquid has thickened into a sauce. Add a dash more water if it looks too dry. Check the seasoning in the curry.

When the rice has cooked, drain it and remove the cardamom pods. Fluff it up with a fork and serve topped with the celeriac curry.

Cooks notes

Don’t forget to remove the pods from the rice before you serve. Chewing on a whole cardamom pod can throw your taste buds out of kilter for a while.